Cora Angier Sowa

Hello! I am an independent scholar working under the name “Minerva Systems.” I am currently developing a suite of programs called “The Minerva System for Study of Literary Texts,” a set of interactive tools for building and carrying out a project using the computer to study literary material. It uses methods of project planning borrowed from the scientific and commercial world, in which I worked for a number of years. Also included are programs to perform specific tasks, such as content/cluster analysis. The interactive part includes lots of pictures and other graphic material. My adaptation of these methods is based on classes I taught in the English Department of St. John’s University (New York). (I think my ideal target audience would be students and scholars of literature who like to play video games!)

As a scholar and by training, I am a Classicist. My scholarly specialty is ancient Greek oral epic — Homer, Hesiod, and (especially) the Homeric Hymns, the subject of my book, “Traditional Themes and the Homeric Hymns.” I have also written on the persistence of mythic themes (such as the Journey to the Underworld, the Meeting with the Goddess) from ancient epic (the popular entertainment of their day) in today’s movies. This summer’s “WALL-E” was a great example!